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The wife of France’s ‘worst ever paedophile’ was aware of his actions but chose to remain silent because ‘she loved his salary’, a court heard today.
Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, is accused of raping and sexually assaulting of 299 victims, almost all minors, between 1989 and 2014.
Most of his victims were under 15 at the time, the youngest aged one and the oldest 70.
His wife, Marie-France Le Scouarnec, who divorced Le Scouarnec in 2023, was portrayed as an accomplice who ‘did nothing’ to lift up the cover of his abuse.
Morbihan Criminal Court, in Vannes, Brittany, was told she spent her days taking ‘numerous’ lovers and going to aqua-aerobics while her husband worked as a surgeon.
It was at his job where he carried out his vile crimes across 10 hospitals and health centres in France.
Ms Le Scouarnec, the mother of their three sons, lived with him throughout that time, and has always denied knowing what he was doing.
But Patrick Le Scouarnec, the 70-year-old brother of the defendant, told the court that she was lying.
‘There is another person who could have ensured that my brother was arrested – it is his wife, Marie-France,’ he said.
‘She was aware of her husband’s actions and she did nothing.’
Appearing to direct his comments at Ms Le Scouarnec, who was in court, he said: ‘Actually, I wonder if she loved her husband for money or for love.
‘Quite honestly, I think it was mostly for his salary.
‘When you have a husband who earns 10,000 euros per month net [£8,300], it is something that allowed my sister-in-law not to work.
‘She could go and do aqua-aerobics, a whole series of activities.’
ictims of Le Scouarnec have also accused Ms Le Scouarnec of covering up his ‘paedocriminal activities’ for decades.
They spoke out on Tuesday, the second day of the trial, describing the couple as ‘evil’.
In turn, Ms Le Scouarnec said: ‘I wondered how I could have not noticed anything. It’s a terrible betrayal that he committed against me and my children.’
But a letter handwritten by her in 2010 that was also entered as evidence read: ‘I ask you to please protect my youngest son, the only one who does not know his father’s past.’
This was seven years before police arrested Le Scouarnec in connection with offences against minors.
In December 2020, he was sentenced to 15 years for the sexual abuse of four girls: a six-year-old neighbour, a four-year-old patient, and two of his own nieces, who were also four when the abuse started.
Victims have called for Ms Le Scouarnec to be prosecuted too alongside her monster husband.
Marie-Caroline Arrighi, a spokesperson for four victims, said outside the court: ‘She knew. Marie-France Le Scouarnec knew and protected her husband.’
Calling the couple ‘evil,’ Ms Arrighi added: ‘Reporting sexual crimes and offenses against minors is a legal obligation.’
The Le Scouarnecs first met in 1974, when both were in their early 20s, and married soon afterwards, but they have since separated.
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